The cost of buying vs. building a tiny house is an essential question for those looking to downsize. Building your own home may seem like the cheaper option, but many factors come into play when deciding which way to go. Building a tiny house requires more time and planning than buying one; this will require you to save money in advance or find funding elsewhere.
The average cost of building a tiny house is $30,000 – $50,000, depending on the size and features desired. Buying a pre-built tiny house can be anywhere from $25,950-$37,900, with some models even costing less than $20,000. Building a tiny home from scratch can cost between $20,000 and $50,000, depending on the materials used.
When deciding which way to go, whether you want time for yourself or savings in mind, this decision will have its upsides and downsides either way. What do you think? Building vs. buying, what’s right for me?
Building a Tiny House
Building a tiny house can seem like the way to go. Some of the pros of building your own tiny house include:
- Creating a home that is exactly how you want it
- Choosing your location
- Creating your own living space and not settling for something that doesn’t fit the needs of a family
- Being able to take as long or short time on it as you need
- Keeping costs under control by doing most of the work yourself
On the other hand, some of the cons of building your own tiny house include:
- Building a tiny house can take longer and require more planning,
- It may be necessary to save up money or take out a loan
- Must find land and make sure it is in an approved zoning district. Land can cost anywhere from $30,000-$300,000 depending on location
- Building plans must be submitted to the municipality for approval before the building begins, this can take months.
- Requires skilled labor that costs about $50 per hour — as well as materials such as wood panels (about $40-$100), windows ($200-$500 each), wiring ($20-$80), etc. Depending on what you want to be included in your tiny house plan.
Building your own tiny home can be a more affordable and rewarding experience, but it does require some time and planning if you want to do it right. The building alone will save money on rent or mortgage payments for the duration of construction (if location permits). However, plenty of other costs associated with the building must be considered first, such as loans, land acquisition/zoning laws, skilled labor needed, etc.
If you are handy enough to do most of the work yourself without needing help from others, building may well come cheaper than buying an already constructed home because items purchased off-the-shelf at Home Depot can quickly get pricey.
Buying a Pre-Built Tiny House
If you’re not handy enough to build a tiny house yourself and would instead buy one, there are plenty of pre-built options available. However, building your own home (even if it’s small) will come with added costs that must be considered first, so make sure you go over the pros and cons of buying or building before making any decisions.
- Buying a pre-built tiny house may be an easier option with fewer upfront costs and cash needed on hand at one time.
- Pre-built tiny homes come fully furnished, are ready for utility hookups, and do not need any customization or extra work before moving in.
- Less stress and time are needed overall to get moved in and settled.
- You’ll still save money over renting or purchasing an average-sized property because mortgage payments are lower.
- If they are on sale, then sometimes it may be better to buy them because of all these benefits; however, if you are looking for something specific (like land) that you cannot find in any pre-made tiny homes, then building might just work out better.
As good as these pros may sound, there are, of course, cons:
- A pre-built home is already complete, so you may not be able to customize the space, so it fits your needs perfectly or have control over where certain items are placed in the tiny house.
- These houses typically do not last as long as ones that were built from scratch
- Pre-built homes can be more expensive than a DIY build. This comes down to spending too much without realizing it. For example, buying a pre-built house with too many bells and whistles may cost more than a DIY build
Summary
The benefits of building your own tiny house are that you can customize it to fit your needs and have control over where certain items are placed. The building also gives you the ability to do more with less, meaning if you build a tiny home, then by default, there will be more space left for other things like a yard or an office.
With this in mind, buyers may not get as much bang for their buck when buying pre-built tiny homes. On the other hand, the building is cheaper than buying because costs tend to go up after time passes and materials increase in price, so waiting too long could cost someone significantly more money!